ADDRESS BY DR. IZIAQ ADEKUNLE SALAKO, THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE DELIVERED AT THE MINISTERIAL PRESS BRIEFING IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 2026 WORLD CANCER DAYON 4TH FEBRUARY, 2026

PROTOCOL
Gentlemen of the press, distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

2. I am pleased to address you on this unique occasion of the commemoration of the 2026 World Cancer Day. As you all know, today, February 4, 2026 marks another World Cancer Day, which provides an opportunity for health leaders, policymakers and stakeholders to assess progress in addressing the menace of cancers, one of the leading causes of disability and death globally. While innovations have fostered enormous advances for screening, diagnosis and treatment; inequities and disparities continue to threaten progress, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like ours.
3. I am particularly happy to address you all today and to share with the global community, the significant milestones that we have achieved as a country having developed and implemented cancer control strategies in the last 2 decades, and the particular milestones attained under my watch as the Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare (in charge of Cancer Control in Nigeria) in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.
4. In 2025 alone, the American Association for Cancer Research reported that there were about 20 million new cases of cancer diagnosed, with over 10 million deaths globally. Although age-adjusted cancer death rates have declined worldwide, it has been predicted that there may be more than 30 million new cancer diagnoses by 2050, due to growing and aging population. This calls for not just a sober reflection, but an intentional concerted efforts by all policy makers, researchers and stakeholders to avert the impending cancer pandemic especially in low- and mid-income countries (including Nigeria) which has higher cancer burden with disproportionately higher death rates compared to high income countries.
5. As efforts are being made to provide cancer diagnosis and treatment facilities, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has decided to pay priority attention to cancer prevention working with other agenicies to reduce risk factors promote screening services and integrate cancer preventive vaccines into our national immunization programme. This has become imperative given the fact that more than 40% of cancer deaths globally are linked to one of 44 modifiable risk factors, including consumption of tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods, obesity and air pollution. This means that nearly half of cancers could be prevented through public health interventions, such as promoting smoking cessation and curbing alcohol intake.
6. The theme of the 2026 World Cancer Day ‘United by Unique’ with emphasis on “United in our goals, Unique in our needs”, is apt and timely as it seeks to address the need for unity of purpose to ensure prevention of preventable cancers and treat the treatable ones based on our unique strategies and peculiarities. I am particularly glad to inform you that the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, provides unique opportunities for cancer prevention and care in Nigeria. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has prioritized health sector and particularly cancer care by making huge investment within the short time in office more than any other administration in this country.
7. You may recall that this is my second Ministerial press briefing in commemoration of World cancer Day. During my first address in 2025, I inaugurated a Technical Working Group on nuclear medicine and charged my team to ensure full review and overhaul of cancer control strategies in order for us to address the challenges faced by cancer patients across the country.
8. Exactly one year after, I am delighted to inform that we have been able to develop 2 national policy documents in furthance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s agenda to provide a robust mechanism for cancer prevention and control in our country.
   i. National Nuclear Medicine Policy and Strategic Plan (the first of its kind in Nigeria.
   ii. Nigeria National Cancer Control Plan 2026-2030
   These documents will strengthen our relentless effort to provide clear policy pathways towards improving the quality of life of cancer patients, and increased investment in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research.
9. The primary objective of the National Cancer Control Plan 2026-2030 is to guide the Federal and State Governments in collaboration with all relevant agencies, development partners, civil society and Non-governmental Organizations to improve cancer risk assessment, prevention, screening and early detection, diagnosis, treatment, research, survivorship and End-of-Life care services across the country. The strategies of the plan are intended to:
   i. Strengthen cancer prevention through comprehensive risk assessment and vaccination programs;
   ii. Ensure equitable access to effective cancer screening and early detection service;
   iii. Streamline diagnostic pathways to reduce delays and ensure timely initiation of treatment;
   iv. Enhance access to comprehensive, integrated cancer treatment services;
   v. Strengthen survivorship and long-term follow-up care;
   vi. Expand palliative care and end-of-life services at all levels of the health system;
   vii. Improve access to technology for more effective and efficient cancer care through precision oncology;
   viii. Leverage safe, equitable and evidence-driven AI (artificial intelligence) to improve prevention, earlier diagnosis, accurate diagnosis, efficient treatment planning, inclusive research and timely surveillance.
   ix. Build national capacity for high-quality cancer research, innovation, and workforce development; and
   x. Improve governance, coordination, and financing for sustainable cancer control.
10. The National Cancer Control Plan 2026-2030 aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda, the National Health Act 2014, the UICC declaration 2025-2035, the WHO Cancer Strategies including the Global Initiatives for Childhood Cancer and Global Breast Cancer Initiative. In addition, the plan is fully alligned with the four-point agenda of the current leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare through the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
11. The National Cancer Control Plan and the National Nuclear Medicine Policy from today becomes the roadmap for all the stakeholders, Federal Tertiary Health Institutions, Research Institutes, Parastatals and agencies of government to implement for effective cancer control and prevention in Nigeria. It is my hope that all State governments, private health care facilities and organizations, development partners as well as International and Multinational Organizations will use and support its implementation for improved cancer prevention and control in the country and possibly.
12. In the spirit of “United in Our Goals” and health Pan Africanism, Nigeria is working with other African countries especially, Egypt and Kenya to establish the African Oncology Collaborative Network (AOCN) as a platform to sthrengten oncology systems across Africa through multi-stakeholder collaboration, knowledge exchange, policy harmonization and scalable innovations in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care. The AOCN will be publicy unveilled before the end of the 3rd quarter of 2026 and our national cancer control plan 2026 – 2030 is expected to one of contribution as a country to the Africa Cancer Control Agenda.
13. Let me use this opportunity to commend the effort of various agencies and parastatals of government and other stakeholders for the unity of purpose and for the concerted efforts to implement the policies and programmes of government towards improving access to cancer care, research and control in Nigeria. The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has recorded several unique achievements in our quest to address cancer care challenges in the country ranging from primary prevention through vaccination, early detection, prompt treatment and Research. It is particularly pertinent to acknowledge the effort of relevant government agencies in the campaign against cervical and liver cancers through Human Papilloma virus vaccination for primary prevention of cancer of the Cervix and Hepatitis immunization for prevention of liver cancer is laudable.
14. The pragmatic achievements of the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment in the area of cancer research and treatment is commendable. I am particularly impressed with the provision of screening services in 8 Federal Tertiary Health Institutions across the country for preventive oncology services. I want o encourage you to continue to collaborate with various stakeholders to ensure implementation of difference programmes in line with the mandates of the Institute and the National Cancer Control Plan.
15. At the core of our unique success stories is the zeal and enthusiasm of our various partners and collaborators who have supported the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and our parastatals to ensure improved access to cancer care, control and research across the country. The collaboration between the Ministry and Mayo Clinic, USA that was facilitated by Professor Folakemi Odedina is instrumental to the ongoing effort to strengthen our National Clinical Trials capability. I am also impressed with the activities of the Prostate Cancer Transatlantic Consortium which has built capacity of different healthcare workers and institutions in the management of prostate cancer. The collaboration between the Ministry and Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center in St Louis, USA facilitated by Professor Juliet Iwelunmor is also commendable. This has led to several research activities in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute for Medical Research and the implementation of the Nigeria National Cancer Control plan.
16. I also commend the partnership of the American Cancer Society in implementing patient navigation, uptake of NCCN harmonized guidelines and the National ChemoSafe policy. On the home front, I commend the Nigeria cancer Society and other NGOs within our cancer ecosystem. The NCS continues to work commendably, coordinating NGOs cancer responses and providing the needed route for public private partnerships in our cancer response. Recently, I approved the collaboration between the National Cancer Control Programme of the Ministry, NICRAT and Medicaid Cancer Foundation and other stakeholders to pilot linkage of cancer screening with national data base through the National identification Number (NIN) for proper identification and referral.
17. As a country, we are happy to demonstrate our unwavering commitment towards addressing cancer care challenges by making very strong statements through our continue participation in several continental and global conferences including UICC World Cancer Leader’s Summit among others.
18. I am particularly excited to note that in addition to the ongoing upgrade of some Federal Tertiary Hospitals with modern cancer treatment facilities across the Country, NICRAT has provided Mammogram machines and other equipment to the following 8 Hospitals for cancer screening services
    i. Federal Medical center, Abuja
    ii. Federal Medical Center, Ebute-Meta
    iii. University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin
    iv. University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu
    v. Usmanu Danfodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto
    vi. Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe
    vii. Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano
    viii. Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife
    This means that Nigerian can now routinely undertake breast cancer screening services in any of the above-mentioned hospitals and not wait for adhoc screening activities.
19. Furthermore, as part of the activities lined up for the commemoration of the 2026 World Cancer Day, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with NICRAT will be sponsoring free cancer screening services in several parts of the country for the entire month of February. While the screening programme commenced yesterday at FMC Abuja, it will be officially flagged off on Saturday, 7th February, 2026 at the FMC, Abeokuta, Ogun State, continue in Abakaliki in South East and also in JUTH Jos Plateau State in North Central geopolitical zones. The plan is to screen a minimum of 1000 Nigerians per region. Therefore, I want to encourage everyone to take advantage of the free screening services to promote cancer awareness and early detection for favourable treatment outcomes for positive cases.
20. Let me use this opportunity to thank all our international development and implementing partners as well as multilateral agencies that have been supporting us to improve cancer care in Nigeria. I wish to formally acknowledge and thank the World Health Organization (WHO), for supporting the implementation of the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancers (GICC) in Nigeria. this inclusion means a lot to us as it will support Nigeria to provide improved access to quality cancer care for the children. I wish to extend our gratitude to the Director General of WHO through the Nigeria country Representative. I hereby encourage all the development, bilateral and multilateral partners to put Nigeria first in all their considerations for cancer care programmes and initiatives.
21. At this juncture Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to formally unveil and launch the following National Policy documents:
    a. National Nuclear Medicine Policy and Strategic Plan (the first of its kind in Nigeria.
    b. Nigeria National Cancer Control Plan 2026-2030
    I am also excited to formally declare active and operational 8 preventive oncology clinics in the following Hospitals:
    i. Federal Medical center, Abuja
    ii. Federal Medical Center, Ebute-Meta
    iii. University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin
    iv. University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu
    v. Usmanu Danfodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto
    vi. Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe
    vii. Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano
    viii. Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife
22. I invite all Nigerians to take advantage of all these cancer control initiatives being provided by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government especially the preventive initiatives. Prevention as we know is not only better, it cheaper, it is everything. Nigeria will continue to put priority attention on cancer prevention to ensure that we reduce the burden and suffering from cancer in our country.
23. And so we peace and progress, Nigeria shall be blessed. Thank you all for attention.